And our Survey says . . . Chamber members tell us what they think of what we do

THE region’s biggest membership organisation has been canvassing the views of its members on what they do or don’t like about the multi-faceted work of the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce.

With offices in Hull and Grimsby, and membership starting from just £99 a year, the not-for-profit business group’s work includes policy and lobbying activities with MPs and Government, a five-star rated International Trade Centre, networking events for SMEs, start-up loan funding for new and fledgling businesses, training for apprentices and even a hairdressing salon in Hull city centre.

The Chamber has nearly 1,300 members, and if you include the city-centre focused HullBID, that number grows to around 2,000, dwarfing other membership groups in the area. The only group which comes close to the Chamber’s size is the Federation of Small Businesses, however their membership covers a much larger geographic area. The Bondholders recently declared its membership as 280, while For Entrepreneurs Only has around 80 members.

The results of the Chamber’s survey showed that 50% of respondents had fewer than 10 staff, while 8% had more than 500, with 62% of businesses being based on the North Bank, reflecting the Chamber’s pan-Humber membership make-up.

The Professional Services sector made up the biggest proportion of respondents with 27%, while manufacturers and producers of raw materials were also strong contributors, as were several marketing and media companies along with our importers and exporters.

While our networking activities attracted many businesses, around 60% of members said they joined the Chamber to support the business community locally, while others joined to take advantage of our International Trade support and policy and lobbying work.

Around 56% of Chamber members are also members of other organisations in the area, but our members love our events with our Annual Dinner, various Business awards and Speed Networking and Networking Lunches being highlighted as the most popular.

Our recently relaunched website is proving very popular as a source of news and events, while our Member-to-Member offers section is growing in popularity, but it was our online directory of members which is the biggest hit, while our Social Media Channels are also well liked and supported.

The Chamber’s magazine, Business Intelligence, is another favourite, with its mix of news from the Chamber and our local businesses making the survey headlines.

Transport, Education and Skills and Brexit were the most important policy issues for our members, while many wanted to know more about our international trade work. The Apprenticeship Levy was a concern to some, while others wanted to know more about our Chamber Training company and the work it does, including the Salon Apprentice hairdressing salon in Hull’s city centre.

And finally . . . Brexit – opinion seemed to be fairly equally split as to whether we should go for a hard or soft Brexit, while some just didn’t know the difference, but the majority said they wanted regular updates on the possible outcomes as negotiations continue.

For more information about any aspect of the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce’s work, call (01482) 324976 or (01472) 342981 for the Northern Lincolnshire office, or visit our website https://www.hull-humber-chamber.co.uk/